Amelia Boynton Robinson was a civil rights pioneer who championed voting rights for African Americans. She was brutally beaten for helping to lead a 1965 civil rights march, which became known as Bloody Sunday and drew national attention to the Civil Rights Movement. She was also the first black woman to run for Congress in Alabama.

Reginald F. Lewis, a prominent American finance executive, was best known for structuring the 1987 deal for his company TLC Group to buy the international food division of Beatrice Foods for $985 million. At the time, it was the largest offshore leverage buyout ever.